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Todays topic on Flaming Hot! is “how much time does it take to run your business?” My answer: too much time! However, I wouldn’t trade it in. Well, maybe some days I dream of walking the beaches in far away lands and think I am going to scream if I have to edit one more picture, but then I come back to reality and tell myself how great my job is. Really, it is so much better than working for the man. I don’t think I could do it…or at least I wouldn’t be happy about it.

So the gory details. Here is my typical week.

Sunday through Friday:

Get up,

check emails.

Blog maybe (I should do this more often)

String freshly cleaned beads (Greg cleans them)

Edit photos of at least four new things, a set. a few marbles, a daily special, a focal bead. (Greg takes the photos). There are at least three pictures of each thing and can be up to twelve depending on the item. Crop, balance, resize, etc.

Upload pictures to internet.

Load four auctions on ebay, one to Justbeads, add an item to etsy and change the daily special. Load a daily special to the website.

On Mondays, Wednedays, and Fridays I add:

Shipping. Package up all items to be shipped, print labels and take them to the po.

Sunday through Wednesday:

I torch for about 5 hours usually starting at about 4 pm and finishing at about 9pm.

Thursday:

I get to the torch as early as possible, usually by 1pm and work until about 9 pm.

Friday:

My so called day off. I only load actions and do shipping this day. (Great day off right? :-)) I am usually done by 12 noon.

Saturday:

Off totally. I usually don’t even answer emails this day. Consider yourself lucky or important if I do.

Added to this list is posting on forums and etsy treasuries for marketing purposes. I don’t have this scheduled, so it just happens when it happens.

How much time, well if I add up the hours I am gonna say at the very least 24 hours a week goes into extra stuff besides creating. I don’t think it would be a stretch to say I work at least a 50 hour work week. But who’s counting?

The topic on Flaming Hot! this week, is “What does your website do for you?”

Mostly what my website does is give me a place to house a catalog of made to order beads and is a directory of where else people can find my work. I also host daily specials on the site for loyal browsers to check out every day.

I see my website as the starting place for my online gallery of work. People can come and browse my work, read about me and Greg, get to know us a bit. Then they can branch out to various other outlets that we carry our work at; Ebay, Justbeads, and Etsy. There is also a link to this blog for people who wish to hear what I want to ramble on about.

So is it just a marker on the internet yellow pages? I don’t think so. I think it is a peak into my little world where folks can get to know me a bit. So I think the question should be, What does my website do for other people? I hope it does something, otherwise I have been waisting a lot of time. :-)

The topic on Flaming Hot this week is “it’s the little things.” The little things are why I love my job so much. I try not to take it for granted that I can just wake up on a Tuesday and decide to just take off and go into New Orleans, or the gulf beaches, or just out to lunch and never think twice about it.

Prior to settling here in Louisiana, we sent 4 1/2 years traveling around in the RV, working various jobs and lampworking. I will never forget the one day about six months into our adventure, standing on the beach in Pensacola, FL on a Tuesday, with our toes in the surf. It is one of the most rememberable days ever. Greg and I were standing there enjoying a glorious November day, when he says to me, “What would we be doing right now if we hadn’t quit our jobs and hit the road?” Easy answer. Working a very long day. They were decent jobs, but not anything I would be excited about going back to. I will never forget that feeling of freedom I felt right them. Almost a guilty pleasure really. I knew how lucky we were right them and I still do.

I am all but certain that if we had not made the decision to travel the country, we would not have made the decision for both of us to be full time glass workers. It changed us and our outlook. Now I can’t imagine doing anything else. I love getting up at whatever time I wake up in the morning. I love doing all my work from my home computer, not having to get dressed before I start my day. If I am sick, I don’t have to call in to someone who may or may not be understanding. I love how my life is all on my time, not someone elses. I can hop a plane and go see anyone without worrying about how to get time off. Even though we have settled and now have a house payment to make, I feel just as free as I did that day on the beach in Pensacola.

All of those perks aside, I do love my job. I love the way the glass melts in the flame. Even if I am just pulling stringer to start a project. Melting glass is a world in itself, where everything else is blocked out. It is mentally consuming, in a way that blocks out the rest of the world and all the issues in it. It takes concentration even when I am doing something so familiar, I think I could do it in my sleep. The nature of this, is that it is a great place to be when there is something on my mind. Whether I just need to let something go, or mull it over, or come to terms with it, torching during those times is a great gift.

As I write this, I realize this got a little deeper than I planned. Are these really little things? Maybe, or they may be great giant gifts. Either way I am grateful. I do love my job, even the computer work. Shhh, don’t tell Greg I said that, even though I bet he already knows it.

The topic on Flaming Hot! this week, is how do you get it done when you work for yourself? That is a very good question. Most days I have a fairly regular schedule I stick to. In the morning I go through the emails and check for any important ones or questions that need answered. I then get the beads ready to be photographed. Thank goodness Greg takes care of the actual photographing. I do then edit the pictures and load auctions, the daily special, and something on etsy. Then there is the shipping. I get it all done, then off to the post office I go.

It all depends on how much time I spend browsing around the internet, or if we take a walk that day, or morning chores, as to what time I actually get all this done. Usually hopefully by 1 or 2 pm. Then I start torching around 3 or 4 pm, or if I am really felling lazy, around 5 or 6, but that is rare. I admit, most days it is just routine. I have a certain number of things I like to list each day and I am pretty motivated to stick to it.

Greg is much more likely to announce he is going to take a day off. I usually wait until I am exhausted or sick. Not a good plan I know, but it is true. I’m not sure where my motivation comes from. I tend to think of myself as kinda lazy sometimes. Like today. I would like nothing better than to curl up on my couch with a book. I doubt I will actually do it. Instead I am writing about it. We’ll see, I need to load those acutions and get those beads and marbles packages up first.